“I wonder, female,” Pious says as he steps through the doorway to face me. “What your thoughts would be if I uploaded Rune’s memories into your armor? I wonder how you would react to what knowledge he has withheld from you.”
Up ahead in the distance, I spot Jex, shifting off the aircraft and slinking into the shadows behind another.
“You mean your brother?”
“Stalling tactic. My scan is telling me your heart rate is accelerating. Are you frightened, female?”
I focus all my attention on Pious. I don’t want him to figure out Jex is in the hangar with us somewhere just because he can read my emotions.
And health status.
And whatever else these idiots can find out with their faceplates on.
“I’m not scared of you.” I try to take control of my thoughts. I think of Claire, and the time we went to a paint and sip party just before the end, she painted a sign that saidGirls Rule, Boys Drool. She drank apple juice and spilled it all over her smock.
“I need to get back to my sister, Pious. She needs me.” I step closer to him, staring deadpan into his face armor. “I don’t care about your little mutiny against your general, I need to get to Claire.”
“Mutiny, you say?” Now it’s his turn to step closer, toe-to-toe with me, his face leaning into the crook of my neck, his robotic deep voice humming in my ear. “So you take his side then? Believe he is the ruler of the Caelum?”
I don’t move, I hardly even breathe. I keep thinking of Claire and the blue paint we couldn’t get out of her hair for days last year.
“Rune is too weak, his body too human to do right by the Caelum.”
I should have watched her closer, my mother told me. She was right, of course. I did more sipping than painting with my friends. I was too buzzed to notice Claire dipping her fingers into the paint and running them through the tangled strands of her hair.
Now I need to be there for her.
I can’t leave her there alone.
This isn’t a stupid paint and sip party.
“You think he’ll protect you from me? From all of this? You think you could trust him?” The cool metal of his faceplate presses against my cheek. “He didn’t even tell you your sister ishere.”
No. He’s lying. He has to be lying. I’m suddenly dizzy and sick. I stumble over my feet, feeling like the walls are caving in on me.
“Come, Kate, take my hand. I’ll show you.”
